A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cordage and in particular to heavy duty marine ropes with novel safety features to prevent harm to personnel upon rope rupture.
B. Prior Art
Ropes have been made for various purposes including safety. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,052 to the present inventor was specifically designed to be used with automatic winching machines which themselves are adapted to reduce some safety hazards. That patent taught a construction in which a rope had a central core with high tensile characteristics and a plurality of outer strands, also with high tensile characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,669, also to the present inventor, was specifically designed to reduce the safety hazard that resulted when the tension on a rope increased so much that increased pressure caused its synthetic material to melt and to stick momentarily until increased winching would dislodge it suddenly.
In recent years, despite all the advantages of synthetic ropes over older ropes fashioned of natural materials, some disadvantages became apparent. If a synthetic rope was subjected to very high tension and ruptured suddenly, those standing in alignment with the broken rope stood a good chance of being seriously injured and, in some cases, killed. Since all of the components of the rope broke substantially simultaneously, the two severed parts of the rope immediately flew generally away from the rupture point with tremendous force resulting in serious safety hazards.
It is therefore among the objects of the present invention to provide a rope made of synthetic material which considerably reduces the danger inherent in those synthetic ropes all of whose components rupture substantially simultaneously under great tension.